Popeyes® Shares Marketing Diversity Results and Action Plan
Diversity disclosure part of commitment to be transparent and be held accountable for outcomes. Popeyes® new partnerships to develop diverse creative talent
MIAMI – May 13, 2021 -- Popeyes® has published its first-ever end-to-end Marketing Diversity Scorecard, including racial and gender diversity of its guests, internal marketing team, external agency partners, production crews, hired talent for advertisements, talent in advertisements; paid social media influencers and audience viewership of advertisements. In addition, the brand is making its methodology available to the industry at large in an attempt to drive conversation around diversity and assist others in beginning their own self-assessment.
In July 2020, Popeyes® and its parent company, Restaurant Brands International, made 10 public diversity commitments, including acknowledging the company’s lack of diversity; our commitment to transparency and accountability; and our commitment to improving the diversity of our marketing programs through annual public disclosures. Popeyes® believes that diverse voices make the company stronger, which is ultimately why the company is reviewing, disclosing and addressing diversity opportunities in its marketing channels and partners. Today’s announcements are the first in a series of actions the brand will be taking towards bettering diversity across its ecosystem.
“Popeyes® is on a journey to increase the diversity in our marketing ecosystem. We believe that a diverse range of voices and perspectives not only makes us a better and stronger company, but also helps us better reflect, understand, and meet the needs of the guests that we serve every day,” said Ryan Robertson, Global Vice President of Brand Marketing, Popeyes®. “This is only our starting point. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re committed to the journey and we believe this new marketing disclosure is an important step in transparency and accountability to the progress we need to make.”
Popeyes collaborated with Cindy Gallop who works with clients to help them re-engineer their processes and operations to make diversity and inclusion a key driver of future growth and profitability. “I'm extremely impressed by Popeyes' transparency in facing up to and disclosing exactly where they stand on diversity and inclusion, their determination to act to improve as quickly as possible, and their desire to share their easily-implemented scorecard methodology with the industry at large to drive tangible, measurable change. I want to see every brand marketer and advertising agency pick this up and run with it, because it's a fantastic opportunity for us to change the face of our industry, and to set the agenda for every other industry.” said Gallop.
The full results of the 2021 Popeyes® Marketing Diversity Scorecard, which include current representation percentages, identified areas of opportunity and more, can be found here.
Major findings and action items include:
· Increasing diversity of marketing teams: Our internal Popeyes® marketing team and the teams that work for the marketing agencies that support us significantly underrepresent Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse talent. Popeyes is committed to ensuring that at least 50% of final round candidates for all positions in the company will be demonstrably diverse candidates. Since the company implemented this commitment in July 2020, more than [70%] of all new hires have been demonstrably diverse. Popeyes® is calling on its agency partners to establish their own programs to build diversity among their team members.
· Increasing support for diverse-owned media companies: Although the diversity of our media spend closely aligns to the diversity of our guests, not enough media dollars are flowing through Black, Hispanic, Asian, and woman-owned companies. Popeyes is committed to increasing its 2021 current media spend across a wider range of minority-owned media companies. The first step in helping us to achieve this goal is by hosting a “Minority Media Summit” in the coming months to learn more and seek opportunities to help grow together
· Developing and Championing diverse creative talent: Acknowledging that there is an overall lack of diversity in all facets of advertising production, Popeyes® will initially focus on broadening access to education through the creation of a 10-week course in partnership with the One Club for Creativity, to better develop diverse talent within the food styling and production industries, which will be announced in the coming months. The One Club for Creativity is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower people with the tools to elevate the work of underrepresented creatives and promote change that leads to a more inclusive workplace and creative industry.
· Increase diversity across the production process: According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Black and African American employees make up just 5.8% of the industry, and as a result, are consistently overlooked for bidding for advertising campaigns. Popeyes® is committed to ensuring that at least 50 percent ethnically diverse candidates are bidding for every Popeyes campaign.
About Popeyes®
Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes® has more than 45 years of history and culinary tradition. Popeyes® distinguishes itself with a unique New Orleans style menu featuring spicy chicken, chicken tenders, fried shrimp, and other regional items. The chain's passion for its Louisiana heritage and flavorful authentic food has allowed Popeyes® to become one of the world's largest chicken quick service restaurants with over 3,300 restaurants in the U.S. and around the world. To learn more about the brand, please visit the Popeyes® brand website at www.Popeyes®.comor follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
